Let Me Die

TWENTY YEARS LATER...

My name is Rafasya Azzahra. I was noted as one of the students at a public school in South Jakarta. I know this story is so hard for human reason to accept. In fact, to this day I don't know why I'm in this place. A place where the sword was such a precious weapon. There won't be a cop stopping you in the street if you bring as many sharp objects as they are.

After twenty years of living in this time, I gained so much experience. Including, who I am here. The memory of Kinara being liked by a Royal Prince always crossed my mind. I don't know the specifics of what Kinara is and her relationship with, Prince Kerthabumi. Geez, who would have thought if I inhabited the body of the girl associated with the great man of this era?

It never crossed my mind. Have I been so ignoring the world in the future? So, he took me to the past? I don't know. Even all the answers I've answered are so meaningless. I don't know how I got back. I was trapped, and the passion for life felt evaporated.

Captain Bum no longer forbids me to attempt suicide. He's tired, maybe. He was the one who brought me to the Nusantara. He also made me a member of his family. Without Captain Bum's help, I didn't know who to live with and know. All foreign, no rupiah, and no technology. Sometimes I get bored, wanting to die feels like living in this loneliness.

The captain tried to make up for his love. I don't care, at all. I just want to go home! Attend school, and listen to music with Ant. I miss my easy world! Not like in this place.

I'm tired of going up and down the hill just to bathe in the river. I'm tired of painting flowers in Captain Bum's garden. I hate to see bandits sell beautiful women to rich merchants.

However, I am grateful to be able to live with Captain Bum and be his daughter. It's one of the greatest things about me. I... Never get old. I mean, nothing has changed at all about my physique. It's all the same from the beginning I came to this moment.

Captain Bum understood me. He sometimes gets angry if I tell him about my life in the future. I understand the captain's nature that begins to show a father's side.

After leaving mainland China and building a house in the Palembang region, the Captain married an indigenous woman. She's nice, beautiful, too. Her hair was thick, like her black eyebrows and piled up. I call her Aunt Galih. She was so friendly and kind to me. Just like the Captain, she also thought of me as her daughter.

Oh my, I miss my family so much in the future! Does, if I die here, I'll go back to my body? I want to try it! But I'm afraid...

"Are you writing a letter for the future again?" Miko suddenly came up with a question.

Zahra put on a flat face to see how the haughty pigeon flew up the Mahogany tree. Hans who was eating grass awaited Zahra's next action.

"It's disrespectful! You can't be presumptuous at seeing something without my permission!"

"For what? I am man's favorite bird. And you're the only human being protesting against me."

"Don't know yourself! That's because they don't know what your language is!"

"In that case, don't blame me you speak the animal language."

"Arrggghh, I'm going to make you a fried bird, Mikooo!"

Instantly the birds in the forest flew irregularly. The leaves move in the westerly wind. The sun that had been shining brightly covered the huge cloud rolls that blocked each other.

"Just get angry, let's get old quickly." Miko again teased, "After all, a slow person like you won't easily catch an agile bird like me."

Zahra wishes she had wings now. For one thing only, Zahra was annoyed with her ability to talk to animals. If they said it was disrespectful, no one would forbid it. Because they are not human.

"Hans, help me!"

"No, because it's none of my business!"

Hans--the horse turned to look for greener grass.

"Haaannnsss!"

***

Birds sing in the forest. Like great singers, they whistle and respond to each other. In the middle of the forest, a man walks enjoying the harmony of nature. His steps were so graceful and authoritative. If a wood seeker passed by, they would instantly recognize the man.

"Assalamualaikum, Raden."

"Waalaikumsalam," he replied, kindly. "A lot of wood, Kang?"

"Yes, Raden. Later tonight I have gratitude at home. Don't forget to come!" The middle-aged man who was carrying his son with him smiled while carrying a chunk of forest wood.

"God willing, I will come. There must be a lot of food there."

The man chuckled, "It must be Raden. Goodbye, I've been waiting for my family at home, assalamualaikum."

"Waalaikumsalam."

The man called Raden resumed his journey. His eyes narrowed as his eardrum caught the sound of a girl screaming from the direction of the river estuary. Not silent, Raden searches for the existence of the girl who has a voice that is so loud.

After a few minutes of searching, Raden found a slit of foliage covering a hollow stone gap. Like a green curtain, the foliage was so tightly storing a door hidden within the dense forest. Raden opened the curtain—a long, hanging leaf. For a moment, he was amazed to see there was a wide cavity inside the stone that he entered.

Raden searches deeper into the hidden paradise there. He was amazed when he saw the expanse of flower gardens with green grass stretched out like a tapestry from the Middle East. There is a blue lake in the middle of the garden surrounded by butterflies and various flying insects.

"Miko! Watch out for you!"

Raden was hiding behind a large rock when he saw a girl running after a bird.

"What did you say?! Am I short?!"

The curly girl with a grim face threw stones at the flying pigeon. Raden thought that the girl seen fighting with a bird had already lost half her consciousness. She was angry and talking to an animal? It's hard to believe!

"Heh! You're arrogant just because you can fly! Just look at it later. I will break your wings!"

The girl there began to gesture to the bird that was now pulled on the tree. Her anger was so explosive that it made Raden smile at the behavior of the girl who was now trying to climb a tree.

"Will she be okay?"

Raden is still monitoring the girl. He saw that the horse that was eating grass began to tug at the girl's clothes.

"Stop it, Hans! I will show the haughty bird if I am a strong man!"

Raden is further astonished by the conversation of the girl he has just met. The girl seemed to be talking to an animal, and it was true that she was angry at one of the animals there.

"Miko! Do you see this?"

Raden was made to gawk when he heard the name the girl gave them— the animals.

"I'm not only beautiful but —aaakkhhh! Miko, Hans! Help me!"

Raden was shocked after the girl's body hung over the tree. The sound of cracking twigs sounded loud. The horse under the sound is loud. While the white dove flew closer to the girl.

"Help me! Huwaaaa!"

Krak

"Aaaaaa!"

Byurrrrr (sound of water)

The tree branch was cut off along the girl hanging there also fell under the lake. Raden ran over the girl into the lake water.

Byurrrrrrr

Raden's hand quickly reached for the curly-haired girl's body that almost drowned. Raden swam to the surface, bringing the semi-conscious girl to the edge. He carried the body of the girl he had just helped to land. A horse and a pigeon came closer. Raden was so surprised to see the animal carrying a cloth.

"Uhukh!" The girl touched her chest, "You guys are evil! I almost died!"

"You, need this." Raden helped the girl get up and sit firmly. He wrapped the cloth around the body of the girl who was now gawking at her face. But, suddenly the body of the girl froze.

"You, Jinbun?"

Raden was silent on the spot. This girl, do you know his little name?

"Where do you know that name?"

"I used to dream about you a lot."

"Dream?" Does a girl know his little name from a dream? "Who are you?"

"Who are you?!" A narrow-eyed woman came with a hostile face. "Why are you in my husband's room?"

"M-me, Kinara." Kinara's hands shook in fear carrying a cup of glass with a kettle on a tray.

"The King's Room is not a haphazard place that servants can go to at night!" The woman approached, but Kinara's body retreated in fear.

Zahra's breath caught up after Kinara's past returned to spin in the mind. She smiled, reflexively staring at Raden — the man who had helped her life.

"I'm Zahra, Rafasya Azzahra. And you, why are you helping me?!"

"Do you remember? Who screamed for help?"

"Me."

"Then?"

"Aaaarrgggh, you should have just let me die!"

This incident will never be forgotten by both of them. Where the girl named Zahra hits Raden without compassion just because the man saved her life.